Novartis India, a Rs. 875 crore plus MNC from Mumbai, has suffered heavy setback during the third quarter ended December 2013 on account of reduction in the selling prices of some key products  under new Drug Price Control Order. Its net profit declined sharply by 47.5 per cent to Rs. 15.23 crore from Rs. 29 crore in the corresponding period of last year. Its net sales also declined by 4.3 per cent to Rs. 218.54 crore from Rs. 228.45 crore. With lower profits, its earnings per share for the quarter moved down to Rs. 4.77 from Rs. 9.07 in the last period.

Due to poor performance, Novartis scrip declined by 3.5 per cent or over Rs. 15 in the morning session to Rs. 421.60 on BSE today.  

The sales of pharmaceuticals segment declined by 11.7 per cent to Rs. 142.90 crore from Rs. 161.8 crore in the similar period of last year. Its sales of generics improved marginally to Rs. 15.99 crore from Rs. 15.71 crore. OTC sales moved to Rs. 37.68 crore from Rs. 32.30 crore and that of animal health segment registered sales of Rs. 28.06 crore as against Rs. 23.97 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year.

For the nine months period ended December 2013, Novartis' net sales declined by 4.6 per cent and its net profit declined sharply by 21.7 per cent to Rs. 74.65 crore from Rs. 95.32 crore. Pharmaceutical sales declined by 10 per cent to Rs. 442.90 crore from Rs. 492.35 crore and generic sales declined by 2.8 per cent to Rs. 45 crore from Rs. 46.28 crore.